Support means for slidable jaw wrenches



UM May 5", 1953 v. LICARI 2,537,235

SUPPORT MEANS FOR SLIDABLE JAW WRENCHES Filed June 11, 1951 FIG. 4-

a M 23 I NVENTOR.

BY ernq,

Patented May 5, 1953 SUPPORT MEANS FOR SLIDABLE JAW WBENCHES Vincent Licari, Kansas City, Mo.

Application June 1 1, 1951, Serial No. 230,900 2 claims. (01. 8l=-.-180) My invention relates to a wrench having means for being supported in an upright position on a suitable surface, to enable the wrench to act as an auxiliary vise to one part in the vise and either tighten or loosen a coupling.

In plumbing or other mechanical work where it is necessary to screw together or unscrew threaded fittings such as elbows, nipples, nuts, etc. two wrenches are frequently used in unison to screw together or unscrew said fittings in the following manner; a wrench is set on a floor, bench or any other suitable surfacein an upright and lengthwise position, a fitting is placed in the jaws of said wrench and another fitting may be screwed to or unscrewed from said fitting by applying a second wrench to it. This practice is quite common especially when a vise is not within easy reach. It is very difficult to keep the first wrench in an upright position while being used in the manner described because of the narrow supporting area equivalent to the thicknes and length of the wrench.

The objects in View are first, to provide a member for supporting a wrench in an upright position on a suitable surface, second, said member bein provided with means for engagin the wrench, and third, means are provided whereby said member will not obstruct the ordinary use of the wrench when the supporting action of the member is no longer necessary. This objective may be attained by disengaging the member from the wrench or by the recession of the member into the frame of the wrench.

The invention consists of a wrench having a member extending away from its frame, said member being either detachable or pivoted to the frame, so as to keep the wrench in a Vertical or upright position when being used, the member acting as a stay to prevent the wrench from falling into a horizontal position. This is particularly important in certain use of the wrench. In fact, it tends to make said wrench act in the nature of a vise.

The invention will be further described, embodiments thereof shown in the drawings, and the invention will be finally pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of the wrench without the member;

Fig. 2 illustrates a side view of the member;

Fig. 3 illustrates in perspective a view of the member;

Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate another embodiment of the present invention in which Fig- 4 llu t a e a si e e va on V e o he wrench wherein a member pivotally engages the frame of said wrench;

F 5,. llustrates a b ttom vi w o s d W ch.

S m la ha acter of e ere e i di at c0r+ esmecl s par s th ou ut t va ious vie s- Referring more particularly to the drawing, one embodiment has a projection ll of member l0 illustrated in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 which fits into recess E2 of frame 9 illustrated in Fig. 1. Member it may engage or disengage frame 9 depending upon the necessity of using the supporting action of member in. The wrench may be used in the usual manner for which it was originally designed and when the need for using it as a vise is at hand, it is simply necessary to fit the detachable member ID to frame 9.

In Fig. 4 is shown another embodiment. A member 3 pivotally engages frame I by means of pin 4 which is part of member 3. Member 3 is shown in full lines in Figures 4 and 5 turned into position for supporting the wrench in an upright position. Broken lines C in the recess of frame I illustrate the position of member 3 when its supporting action is not required. It is then aligned with the frame I. A spring pressed ball snap 5 is set in frame I and interlocks frame I and member 3 through recess 6 set in member 3.

In Fig. 5 the dotted arc illustrates the movement of member 3 wherein the end of member 3 is swung from position B to position A.

Adjustable jaw 2 is shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 5. Grooved teeth I are shown in Figs. 1 and 4. Fixed jaw 8 illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4 may be fixed to frame I or 9 or actually be part of frame I or 0 itself.

Frame I illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4, respectively, is shown as being made in one piece, although the frame can be made of sections being fitted together. For instance, a handle may be made as a section and fitted to the rest of the frame. It is apparent that the member can be made for engaging any part of the frame.

It is understood that the member may engage the wrench in various ways and that changes in the design of the member and wrench along with other changes in the precise embodiments of the invention may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention,

It is desired to secure by Letters Patent and to make the following claims:

I claim:

1. In a conventional wrench structure having a head portion and an extended handle portion,

an elongated cutout located on the under side of the head portion and extended in the direction of the handle portion, an elongated arm generally conforming to the cutout in shape and dimensions and having a fiat base portion for contact with a supporting surface, means for pivotally mounting the elongated arm on the head portion of the wrench within the cutout, whereby the arm may be swung to a laterally extended position to act in conjunction with the wrench handle as a support for the wrench on a flat surface, with the wrench jaws facing upward, and means for latching the arm within the cutout when its supporting function is not required.

2. In a conventional wrench structure having a head portion having jaws and an extended handle portion, an elongated cut out located on the rear side of the head portion opposite to that of the jaws, and extended in the longitudinal direction of the handle portion and transversely thereto the latter the full width of said head portion with a bore extending into said head portion above said out out, an elongated arm generally conforming to the cut out in shape and dimensions and of a length longer than the length of the transverse portion of said out out to extend in an extended position from both sides of said head portion, to act in conjunction with the wrench handle as a support for the wrench on a fiat surface, with the wrench jaws facing upward, the bottom surface of said arm being flush with the bottom surface of the wrench structure, and a pin on the upper surface of said arm engaging said bore in said wrench portion, whereby when said pin engages said bore, and said arm extends laterally of said head portion on both sides, the wrench structure is held in position against lateral tilting.

VINCENT LICARI.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 243,277 Love June 21, 1881 439,918 Wilkes Nov. 4, 1890 606,395 Shaw June 28, 1898 746,023 Cheesman Dec. 8, 1903 1,539,137 Nelson May 26, 1925 1,795,048 Schuk Mar. 3, 1931 1,941,889 Freeman Jan. 2, 1934 2,106,749 Knight Feb. 1, 1938 

